public policy – Page 4 – Steve Blum's Blog

CPUC judge tells Frontier, consumer groups to stop squabbling and deal with the issues

15 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, frontiercommunications, public policy, rural broadband

Both Frontier Communications and the “intervenors” who want a say in how its bankruptcy reorganisation plays out in California were scolded yesterday by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge (ALJ). The result might be a delay – maybe a week, maybe something else – in concluding the CPUC’s review of the reorganisation plan and the bankruptcy settlement.

In an emailed ruling, ALJ Peter Wercinski cancelled three days of hearings scheduled for the end of the month, saying that none of the parties involved have yet addressed the issues surrounding the bankruptcy that were identified by the commission…

The Public Advocates Office stated in its October 12, 2020 response that “all material issues in the Scoping Memo remain at issue.”

… More

California broadband project subsidy requests trimmed, but most might go to the back of the line

14 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

Three revised broadband project grant applications to the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) were posted over the past couple of days. Two fiber to the premise builds – Frontier Communications’ in Crescent City and Plumas-Sierra Telecommunications’ in the Scott Road area of Lassen and Sierra counties – were trimmed by a few hundred thousand dollars. But another – Hunter Communication’s $290 million proposal in Mendocino County – was slashed to $158 million.

Even so, Hunter’s prospects are dismal.… More

FCC wants to allow cell sites to grow 30 feet in any direction, without meaningful local review

12 October 2020 by Steve Blum
ab57, fcc, mobile broadband, psps, public policy, wireless permitting

Local governments will have to automatically permit expansions of cell sites and other wireless facilities beyond currently approved boundaries, if the Federal Communications Commission approves a draft of new wireless facilities regulations. As it all but certainly will – the changes to existing wireless permitting rules are part of a bundle of significant changes to telecommunications policy that the republican-majority FCC has queued up for a vote just ahead of the November election.

As the rules stand now, local governments “may not deny, and shall approve” within 60 days modifications to existing wireless sites that are outside of the public right of way so long as the changes “do not substantially change the physical dimensions of the structure”.… More

CPUC adds broadband to subsidised lifeline phone service in California, if telcos and cable cooperate

9 October 2020 by Steve Blum
broadband, cpuc, fcc, lifeline, public policy

Low income Californians will be able to get free or low broadband service via the state’s lifeline program, following a unanimous vote yesterday by the California Public Utilities Commission. The plan approved by commissioners is pretty much the same as the draft that was proposed last month. The language in the final version was tightened up, but no substantive changes were made.

Subsidised lifeline broadband service has been available for some time from mobile carriers, who typically provide at no cost to the consumer.… More

Newsom urged to call lawmakers back to Sacramento to close broadband gap

7 October 2020 by Steve Blum
ab570, casf, public policy, rural broadband, sb1130

More than 60 people representing nearly as many organisations signed a letter, which was delivered on Tuesday, asking California governor Gavin Newsom to declare a special legislative session to specifically address the growing divide between digital haves and have nots in California…

As leaders in industry, local government, non-profit, education, and media, we represent millions of Californian families, teachers, and older adults, all of whom should have access to the benefits of technology. We urge you to use your authority as Governor to reconvene the state legislature under a special session to pass universal broadband access legislation this year that makes the necessary investments in 21st century access to end the digital divide.

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Mobile carriers get a three year exemption from environmental reviews and local restrictions on emergency generators in California

6 October 2020 by Steve Blum
emergencyservices, mobile broadband, psps, public policy

Emergency power generators installed near macro cell sites everywhere in California won’t have to go through a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review and must be approved by local governments within 60 days if the paperwork is in order, under a bill just signed into law by governor Gavin Newsom. This exemption begins on January 1, 2021 and expires three years later, unless the legislature extends it.

Assembly bill 2421, carried by Bill Quirk (D – Alameda), says that “an emergency standby generator that serves a macro cell site as a permitted use and requires a local agency to review a permit request to install an emergency standby generator on an administrative, nondiscretionary basis”, if it meets certain requirements, according to the bill analysis prepared by the senate’s governance and finance committee.… More

California broadband subsidy proposals go into extra innings, with new rules and more competition

5 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

The fate of the 54 pending proposals for broadband infrastructure grants from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) won’t be fully known until early next year, assuming the California Public Utilities Commission approves a draft rewrite of the program’s rules. The goal is to use CASF money to make Californian bids more competitive in the reverse auction for Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) subsidies that’ll be run by the Federal Communications Commission later this month.… More

CPUC fumbles bid to win billions of federal broadband dollars for California

2 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, public policy, rdof, rural broadband

Fumble

Californian Internet service providers that try for broadband deployment subsidies in the Federal Communications Commission’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) reverse auction later this month might be able to sweeten their bids by as much as 10% or 20%. Or they might not.

Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission published what might be described as a discussion draft of possible rules for using money from the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) to backfill RDOF bids.… More

Frontier is the only wired broadband choice for 69,000 low income California households, if they can get it at all

1 October 2020 by Steve Blum
casf, cpuc, frontiercommunications, public policy, rural broadband

A “collection of facts” about Frontier Communications’ history as a broadband and telephone service provider in California will serve as a primer for members of the public that want to weigh in on the California Public Utilities Commission’s review of the company’s bankruptcy settlement.

The report analyses the thousands of complaints about Frontier’s service and billing practices over the years, and the service quality problems it continues to have. In some respects, Frontier is doing better – it’s on track to have fewer complaints this year than last – but it has continuing issues with service outages and repair times.… More

Cities, counties decide to keep fighting FCC’s pole ownership preemption

29 September 2020 by Steve Blum
ab57, fcc, pole attachment, public policy, small cells

Dozens of cities, counties and their associations yesterday asked a federal appeals court to reconsider a decision that blessed the Federal Communications Commission’s preemption of local ownership and control of streetlights and other assets installed in the public right of way.

In August, the cities’ challenge to the FCC’s ruling was mostly rejected by three judges from the San Francisco-based ninth circuit federal appeals court. The next step is to ask all 29 judges on that court to review the decision as a group – en banc, as the jargon goes.… More